Ferrari Owners Go Full Throttle in Texas Track Blowout

A Ferrari F12, with 731 horsepower, blasting around Circuit of Americas as part of the $13,500 Corso Pilota program. It is the first time the school has been presented on a track in the United States. Source: Ferrari North America via Bloomberg

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The Formula One racetrack in Austin,
Texas, is bristling with Ferraris.

There are F12 Berlinettas, each worth $315,000, and a flock
of $233,000 458 Italias. The bright red exotics are splayed down
the pit lane like a schoolboy’s fantasy.

These are our toys for today.

The setting is Ferrari’s first-ever driving school in the
U.S., with two days of instruction on the racetrack and two
nights hanging out with fellow Ferraristi. Not just anyone is
invited to the party.

The school, officially dubbed the Corso Pilota, costs
$13,500, which includes hotel and meals. And every single
participant owns a Ferrari.

So, yes, it’s exclusive. You’d figure that with all the
Ferrari owners, plus spouses and friends along, it would be a
bunch of chest-thumping A-Types. In reality, you’d never pick
out the guy who owns a rare Enzo and has a $1.4 million
LaFerrari on order. The group is easygoing and collegial.
Friendships are made, car collections compared. On the first
morning, the shuttle bus from the hotel pulls up to the Circuit
of the Americas racetrack and the participants (17 men, one
woman) take a look at the assembled cars and start giggling.
It’s going to be a good day.

Owner Philosophy

Few companies are as skilled at instilling brand loyalty
among customers as Ferrari SpA. The Maranello, Italy-based
automaker strives to create a Ferrari familia. If you want buy
the newest, hottest model in a timely manner -- less than a year
or even two -- you’d best already own another Ferrari and be on
a first-name basis with the local dealer. The Corso Pilota
experience and its exclusivity are in lock-step with that
philosophy. It’s a chance to drive all of the cars at high
speeds and meet like-minded owners.

The school began in Italy and is also offered in Mont-Tremblant, Canada, a former site of the Canadian Grand Prix.
Austin’s brand-new Circuit of the Americas held its first F1
race in late 2012, making it an ideal U.S. venue for the
Ferrari school. I took part during the final school in December
of 2013; new dates will be announced for 2014.

This was not a racing school, the instructors emphasized,
but rather an opportunity to teach customers how to safely
operate their very fast cars, and understand the vehicles’
extreme capabilities.

Safety First

I’ve taken more than a few turns in Ferraris around
racetracks, but this was still unique. We would get to drift the
California 30 model (490 horsepower) around a skid pad, and
pilot both the mid-engine 458 Italia (562 hp) and the F12 (731
hp) on the circuit itself. (As for safety, Ferrari says that
during eight years of classes in Canada, they’ve never had so
much as a scratch on a car.)

After a short time in the classroom, the Texas air fills
with the sounds of vibrato as the Ferraris are woken into
violent life. No other automobiles in the world have as much
aural anima.

Other car companies like Porsche offer similar courses, and
while the cars and the track matter, the greatest factors to
success are the curricula and instructors. Ferrari’s group of
professional racers are a mix of French Canadians, Americans and
Europeans. By the end of the second day, I’ll have improved on
several minute skills that have long eluded me. These guys are
good.

It is also my first chance to experience the new F1 track,
a complicated 3.4-mile (5.5 kilometers) road course with 20
corners. The 1,500-acre (607 hectare) complex is massive. The
251-foot-high (77 meters) observation tower rises above it all
like Tolkien’s dark tower of Mordor.

18 Students

The instructors first drive each student around the track,
talking about technique and the sequence of turns. Then they
switch seats so the instructor can observe the student from
inside the car. This one-on-one approach segues to lead-and-follow sessions, with students driving directly behind a
teacher’s car.

It’s an ideal trinity. The only downside is that, with 18
students, everyone spends a fair amount of time waiting between
full laps of the track on the second day.

Speed builds gradually, but the Ferrari guys will let you
go just as fast as your experience and competency allow. By
early afternoon I have a decent sense of the complicated turns.
The 133-foot uphill to Turn 1 is the course’s most notable
feature. It’s got a sharp bend at its end, then swoops back
downhill. A thriller.

Blurring Landscape

On the day’s final session I’m rifling a 458 down the front
straight, the scream of the V-8 engine blossoming behind me. I’m
right on the tail of the instructor as we zing up the steep
hill. The speedometer touches 150 miles per hour and then I
transition to brakes, hard, and the blurring landscape slows.
The 458 is beautifully balanced, a fine-tuned instrument on the
circuit’s nuanced corners. I don’t think this would ever get
old.

That evening, participants and instructors alike share
barbecue and swap car stories. Titans of industry listen, rapt,
to tales of wild races. There’s a discussion what it would feel
like to pilot an actual Formula One car at the track. Speeds in
the street cars are incredible as it is.

“Tomorrow will be even better,” says one instructor.
“You’ll go faster, feel more confident, and understand the cars
even more thoroughly.”

He’s right, of course. Tomorrow will be a good day indeed.

(Jason H. Harper writes about autos for Bloomberg News. The
opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column:
Jason H. Harper via jbutters@bloomberg.net or follow on
Twitter @JasonHarperSpin.